Quivira: Jack Nicklaus' Crowning Achievement in Los Cabos

September 17, 2015

He’s known as the Golden Bear, but in Mexico, especially in Los Cabos, Jack Nicklaus should be revered as the “Golden Amigo.” Why? It was Nicklaus who single-handedly catapulted a sleepy hideaway into the pantheon of great golf destinations with his prolific output since the early 1990s.

It’s a well-documented fact that Nicklaus first visited Cabo San Lucas in the mid-1960’s to take a break from the competitive pressures of the PGA Tour—and enjoy the world-class deep-sea fishing. From the windows of his plane, Jack said that even 50 years ago he could envision fairways and greens laid into the desert foothills that tumbled from the stony mountains to the Sea of Cortes.

His vision became a reality in 1992, when he opened his first Jack Nicklaus Course in Los Cabos, with four additional Nicklaus designs to follow between 1994 and 2007.

By his own admission, Jack may have saved his best for last at Quivira Golf Club, a spectacular facility that debuted in 2014 and features more oceanfront exposure than any other course in Los Cabos. While Nicklaus is thankful that resort developer Ernesto Coppel dedicated so much precious real estate terrain to golf, he’s equally proud of the fact that the dazzling 7,139-yard layout takes full advantage of the site and offers a little bit of everything, from rolling dunes and rocky cliffs to crashing surf on both nines. Quivira, Nicklaus has said, has plenty of teeth from the tips, but in the end the man who put Los Cabos on the international golf map built a course that’s playable, beautiful–and absolutely unforgettable from the forward tees.